New restaurants open every day. The challenge of running a good restaurant isn’t just about delicious food, it’s about designing a unique experience. This is why the design of a restaurant’s interiors are as important as the dishes on its menu.

A Few Basics

Designing a restaurant isn’t comparable to designing home interiors. Restaurants are designed for multiple groups of people. Each group needs space for themselves and yet need to be accessible by restaurant staff. The staff need place to work freely without interrupting the diners. The designs also need to meet safety regulations. You need to have clear access to a fire exit, well-marked emergency routes, etc.

Ideas to Inspire You

Each restaurant is different. Here are a few ideas to inspire your new restaurant.

Make Bold Entrance

Restaurant décor starts from outside the restaurant. The first thing your customers will see is the door and the signage. So, pay attention to what your patrons can see through the windows, what the door looks like, what your signage is, what the podium for your host/hostess looks like, etc.

Pick a Theme

Every restaurant interior design must start with a theme. This will be used to not only design the interiors but will also be reflected in the menu design, food presentation, etc. When it comes to themes, you can go with trends but trends can change and so, this may not always be the best idea. So, pick a theme that reflects your core idea.

Finalize the Colour Scheme

A restaurant’s colour scheme can play a large role in the customer’s experience. For example, a bold colour scheme is great for cafes and fast foods that attract a young crowd. But, for elegant, fine dine restaurants, a white scheme or jewel tones may be a better idea. Every colour scheme must have 3 colours in a 60:30:10 ratio. The primary colour is for the walls, carpets, etc. the secondary colour is for your furniture upholstery and the 10%, tertiary colour are highlights.

Maintain Walking Space

Restaurants must maintain a fine balance between maximizing covers they can seat and walking space for patrons and staff. Consider how people will circulate in your restaurant- is it a self-service buffet or will you have staff serving the customers? You need to create clear routes from the kitchen to all the tables and clear routes from the tables to the restaurant entrance and to the restrooms. Ideally, restaurant tables should have at least 48” between them.

Open floor vs closed floor

Restaurant floor plans can be categorized as an open floor plan and a closed floor plan. An open floor plan is one where all the tables and chairs are at the same level and have a clear line of sight to the rest of the restaurant. Some restaurants refer to give their customers booths that make their area cut off from the rest of the restaurant to give their customers a private dining experience. This may be referred to as a closed floor plan.

The type of furniture you place on your restaurant depends on the layout you choose. Ideally you should get all your furniture from one place. Oye Express can help you get a good deal on restaurant furniture. They have the right contacts for furniture designers and manufacturers in China and they can put you in touch with the right people.

A good lighting scheme

Restaurants need to be well-lit. Even a restaurants trying to create a romantic vibe, can’t rely solely on candle light for their diners. Diners should have enough light to appreciate the décor and read the menu. At the same time, the lighting scheme should not be so bright as to make the space look antiseptic. A lighting scheme should be layers- you need ambient lighting and focus lighting for art work on your walls.

Oye Express can help you find chandeliers, pendant lights, wall sconces and more for your restaurant. If you have an outdoor and indoor section, you might need different types of lighting for both areas.

Artwork with character

Artwork plays an important role in settling a vibe for the restaurant. Modern art pairs well with contemporary food while traditional paintings are perfect for restaurants serving regional cuisine. You can even choose artwork from select artists and put the same up for sale. This not only adds to the overall décor, it also gets people into your restaurant.

Crockery & Cutlery

Along with the furniture and furnishing, you need to ensure that the crockery and cutlery match your theme too. Fine dine restaurants must have clean-lined crockery while fast food cafes may have more funky crockery. The plates must be matched to the serving dishes and the glasses. Then, you need to take a closer look at the cutlery you will be using. If you’re going to be serving food like steaks, you need steak knives but if you’re serving Chinese, you should have chopsticks accessible.

Storage & Display

A good restaurant cannot afford to run out of ingredients. So, you will need to stock plenty of inventory and thus, you need plenty of storage. While some storage is intended to keep things hidden from the customer’s sight, storing things like wine can be part of your décor. There’s also things that your staff need from time to time. For example- they need access to trays, spare cutlery, napkins, seasoning etc. These things need to be stored in such a way that they are accessible and unobtrusive.

Convenient restrooms

Last but not the least, restaurants need convenient restrooms. The restrooms should be clearly marked and easy to access. Ideally, there shouldn’t be a table too close to the restrooms. The restroom interiors should follow the same décor scheme as the rest of the restaurant. Do not ignore this space. It should be well-lit, roomy and clean.

Oye Express: Get the Help Your Need

Finding furniture and décor for a restaurant isn’t always as easy as you imagine. But, with Oye Express, it can quite simple. Oye Express is an end to end solution provider. You can get the introductions to the best designers and manufactutrers of furniture, lights and décor in China. Oye Express also helps restauranteurs visit China, gives them support for local transportation and interpreters, helps negotiate the best deals and transports the selected pieces to the restaurant site. In short, Oye Express makes decorating a restaurant a happier, less tense experience. If you’re considering opening doors to a new restaurant, get in touch with Oye Express to make your sourcing journey simpler.